Page 44 of Monsters of Air

“Riders have heightened senses. Have you noticed your sense of sight or taste has improved since you knew you were a rider?”

I shook my head, but then paused. I hadn’t been tasting the air or anything, but I had heard the Fae before they attacked both with my father and at the campsite. I nodded.

“Good. Then at least you aren’t a lost cause,” Landers said.

“Landers, don’t take this the wrong way, but fuck off. Leave us alone while I train her,” Philit said.

“I’m still against this,” Zilon said, looking like he was about to bust in and take me home to make him stew.

“Noted.” Philit didn’t even look at him. “Go watch over the Fae.”

Zilon skulked off, looking back at us a few times.

“Ignore him. His people protect their women, practically coddle them. He doesn’t mean anything by it and he’ll quickly realize he can’t hold onto that thinking at the academy and as he learns how dangerous our world really is.”

“So he can fight?”

“He can. He’s not as familiar with Fae, but from what I could piece together, there are other dangers in the dessert he had to fight off. Now quiet. I want you to close your eyes and tell me what you hear.”

I did as he said. Closing my eyes enhanced everything, including my awareness of how close Philit stood to me. His heat reached me even though I knew he was at least a foot away from me.

“Focus, Rayna.” Why did him saying my name always feel like a buzz of sun against my face?

“I am focused.”

“You aren’t. You’re thinking. Stop that. Just focus on your surroundings, taking all your senses. Tell me what you hear.”

I did as he said. My feet began aching with the cold of inactivity, but then finally the buzzing of sounds began to separate. “Breathing. I can hear all of you breathing. Even the Fae.”

“Good. I can’t hear that.”

“I thought dragons had good hearing?” Landers actually sounded surprised.

“Dragons have heightened skills that will match their rider, so Rayna’s dragon will likely not have a heightened sense of hearing,” Philit clarified. “Now, what else are you picking up?”

“Landers is pacing.”

“That he is. What else?”

I tried to pick up more sounds, ones that I could explain to Philit. “Something small is running around to our left, in the bushes.” I frowned, trying to understand more of what I heard.

“Good, Rayna.” Philit’s hands landed on my shoulders and I jumped.

“That was your first lesson. Practice listening. Get familiar with the sounds. When you hear something, figure out the source so in the future, when you hear it again, you know exactly what it is.”

“That’s it?” Why did I feel like I had been tricked? “We didn’t do anything. How is any of that supposed to help me fight? Or get through the mountains alive?”

“For now, that’s it. It will help plenty, you will see.”

I really didn’t believe him, but what choice did I have? If he wouldn't train me I didn’t have any other options. Zilon was too old school, and Landers probably knew less than I did about fighting. Landers, however, was staring at me again.

Although this time he didn’t seem as disgusted.

Chapter Sixteen

Philit did exactly what he said he’d do. Every so often he’d stop, turn to me, and make me listen to our surroundings, demanding I tell him what I hear.

I half expected to be able to hear the Fae following behind us, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

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